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HIERARCHY
DEVELOPMENT
One of the things that Jesus cautioned His
followers about more than any other was the temptation of lording it over
one another, wanting to be first and seeking places of supremacy.
According
to Matthew 18:1-4, Mark 9:34-37 and Luke 9:46-48, we read, “At
the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest
in the kingdom of heaven? And
Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as
little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the
same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew
19:30 and Mark 10:31 states, “Many that are first
shall be last; and the last shall be first.
And in Matthew 20:16 “The last shall be first, and the
first last: for many be called, but few chosen.”
Again in Matthew 20:20-29 “Then came to Jesus the mother
of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a
certain thing of him…to sit on the right hand, and on the left. Jesus said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise
dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.
About it shall not be so among you: but whosever will be great
among you, let him be your minister.”
Matthew
23:8-12 states, “Be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your
Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
And call not man your father upon the earth: for one is your
Father, which is in heaven. Neither
be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that
shall humble himself shall be exalted.”
In
Luke 9:33-37 “They disputed among themselves, who should be the
greatest. Jesus said, If any
man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.
And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them…”
According
to Luke 22:24-27 “And there was also a strife among them, which
of them should be accounted the greatest.
And Jesus said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise
lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called
benefactors. But ye shall not
be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and
he that is chief, as he that doth serve.”
Again,
John 13:4-17 says, “Jesus riseth from supper, and laid aside his
garments; and took a towel and girded himself.
After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the
disciple’s feet and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was
girded…If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also
ought to wash one another’s feet. For
I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.”
The
Scriptures record how difficult it was for the early disciples to obey the
Lord in being humble, not lording it over others or wanting to be first.
James 2:1-9 warns, “My brethren, have not the faith
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons…But
if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law
as transgressors.”
John
the apostle warns Gaius about this issue in III John 9-11 “I
wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who love to have the preeminence
among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore,
if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us
with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself
receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out
of the church. Beloved,
follow not that which is evil, but that which is good.
He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen
God.”
In
Revelation 2:6, to the Church of Ephesus, Jesus says, “But this
thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans(nikolaiton=nike:
exalt, conquer, victory, lord over, oppress; laos, people, laity, common
man), which I also hate.” And
again in Revelation 2:15 “So hast thou also them that hold the
doctrine of the Nicolaitans(nikolaiton=nike: exalt, conquer, victory, lord
over, oppress; laos, people, laity, common man) which thing I hate.
Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight
against them with the sword of my mouth.”
The
development of a hierarchy system continued into the 2nd
Century. In AD 107, Ignatius
the “Bishop of Antioch” wrote seven epistles in which he justified the
supremacy of the “Office of Bishop” over the other brethren. Later that same 2nd Century in AD 117, Clement of
Rome advocated differentiating between the functions of bishops, elders
and pastors with the “Bishop” being above the others in rank. He also advocated “clergy and laity” distinction and the
“one-man” pastor leadership role.
The Council of Nicene in the 4th Century AD 325,
declared the supremacy of the position of “Bishop”.
The
primary reasons these early fathers gave for the hierarchy structure and
the supremacy of leadership over the laity was to maintain doctrinal
purity and combat heresy within the Church.
However, as history has proven, when one person is on the top of
the hierarchy system, doctrinal purity then depends upon that one man’s
interpretation of Scripture. Whereas,
Jesus the Head of the Church gave the Holy Spirit to maintain truth by
bringing to remembrance all that Jesus did and taught.
The
First Century Church believed and practiced the priesthood of all
believers. Those among them
who were gifted by the Spirit
led by example and ministered in mutual plurality as servants.
All of believers could then seek the mind of the Lord.
Should one among them be in error, the others could speak the truth
in love to that person.
Also,
when all the congregations of any given city or town were walking together
in an interdependent relationship rather than a hierarchy system, there
was the safeguard of all the believers seeking the mind of the Lord.
When one person, family or congregation got off into some heresy,
then these were dealt with by the whole church.
Heresy then could be limited to one person, family or congregation
and not the whole church of the city or town.
The
First Century ekklesia got it right in their understanding of a simple
expression of Christ’s Body made up of all saints as priests, taught by
the Holy Spirit of Christ and by those servant equipping leaders whom He
gave as gifts to the church. Paul
understood this fact well as indicated by the way he could leave a newly
established church by entrusting that ekklesia to the Holy Spirit for
continuing growth. Paul only
occasionally sent letters and personally visited some of the new churches
or sent other apostles to set in order thing that were lacking.
There was no hierarchy involved but rather brothers mutually
working as co-laborers together in advancing the Kingdom of God on earth.
As
has been stated before, the second century church had legitimate and grave
concerns about false teachings that had invaded the young church.
Their answer was to build a hierarchy by strengthening the pastoral
role and by developing a distinctly separate bishop’s position to
guarantee doctrinal purity. History shows that this hierarchical approach gave rise to
even greater deviation from truth as exemplified by the patriarch and
papal development in both the Eastern and Western Catholic churches.
This led to such erroneous declarations as “Scripture and
tradition are of equal authority.”
The
Protestant expression of the church rebelled against these deviations from
the Scripture. Yet they too
left in place a different hierarchy type system.
True, it was not a patriarch or papal one but rather an elevation
of the “pastor clergy role” which led to some of the same consequences
as the Eastern and Western Catholic churches.
Protestants
also have been adversely influenced by such errors as the doctrine of
dispensationalism, especially as it relates to the gifts of the Holy
Spirit being valid today. This
teaching was propagated from the “top down” primarily via seminaries
and Bible colleges in the 1830’s through the influence of the Plymouth
Brethren and Darby’s Scofield Study Bible.
The
Scriptural way of combating error was to build a firm foundation through
the apostles’ doctrine and to equip all the saints for the work of
ministry. They had a simple
structure of mutually submitted believers who lived out the Life of Christ
in interdependent ekklesias with the Holy Spirit as their primary teacher
along with gifted equippers whom the Lord had given to the Church. The writers of the New Testament scriptures forewarned that
there would be error and false teachings but they also taught the church
how to deal with these heresies.
The
hierarchy type system often caused the entire church to accept wrong
teachings and doctrines because those on the top “said so” and thus it
led the entire church astray. However,
with the co-laborer, servant leadership, and the interdependence of the
New Testament churches, only a few saints or a single congregation would
be adversely affected. The
Body of Christ could then speak the truth in love to those wavering saints
or churches by admonishing them and correcting them.
The
same is true of the seminary type training approaches throughout history.
The false doctrines and teachings were propagated from the “top
down” causing error to be taught throughout the Eastern Catholic,
Western Catholic and Protestant churches.
The primary training of New Testament leadership was not through
seminaries nor Bible colleges but rather by mature leaders equipping and
training younger leaders through instruction, example and practical
application. The early church
got it right and we cannot improve upon it but rather must implement it in
its simplicity.
The
decrees of the 2nd through the 4th Centuries set in
motion the development of hierarchy within the leadership of the Christian
Church. Remnants of this hierarchy leadership exists today in most of the
Body of Christ. It takes many
different forms ranging from the Western Catholic “Pope” to the
“Patriarch” of the Eastern Catholic to the “Reverend Pastor” of
the Protestant Church.
What
the 1st Century Church demonstrated as a plurality of servants
leading by example turned into an authoritarian “lording over” the
flock in the 21st Century.
Our Lord’s warnings to His disciples about the dangers of
hierarchy development has gone unheeded by most of the Body of Christ and
we still suffer the consequences even to this day!
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